This week we revealed to the public more about the IRS’ historic abuse of power. We released 294 pages
of FBI documents showing that top IRS officials in Washington,
including Lois Lerner and Holly Paz, knew that the agency was
specifically targeting “Tea Party” and other conservative organizations
two full years before disclosing it to Congress and the public.Lerner was director of the IRS Exempt Organizations Unit and Paz was the IRS Acting Director of Rulings and Agreements.These so-called “302” documents – detailed narratives of FBI investigative interviews – fully confirm a report
by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) in
2013 that said, “Senior IRS officials knew that agents were targeting
conservative groups for special scrutiny as early as 2011.”
Unsurprisingly, the Obama Justice Department and FBI “investigation”
into the Obama IRS scandal resulted in no criminal charges.
Lerner did not reveal the targeting until
May 2013 in response to a planted question at an American Bar
Association conference. The new documents show that then-acting IRS
Commissioner Steven Miller actually wrote Lerner’s response
that falsely blamed the scandal on IRS low-level employees in
Cincinnati: “They used names like Tea Party or Patriots and they
selected cases simply because the applications had those names in the
title. That was wrong, that was absolutely incorrect, insensitive, and
inappropriate.”
The FBI documents also reveal that IRS officials stated that the agency
was targeting conservative groups in the summer of 2011 because of their
ideology and political affiliation. According to one senior tax law
specialist, “The case seemed to be pulled because of the applicant’s
political affiliation and screening is not supposed to occur that way …
[Redacted] said he thought the cases were being pulled based upon
political affiliations.” And IRS senior official Nancy Marks, appointed
by Miller to conduct an internal investigation stated, “Cincinnati was
categorizing cases based on name and ideology, not just activity.”
We obtained these documents through a federal court order in our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit (Judicial Watch v Department of Justice (No. 1:14-cv-01239)).
According to the FBI documents, Paz and others were informed in the late
spring and summer of 2011 that Cincinnati agents were using “BOLO” (Be
On the Look Out) briefing guides that instructed them to be “looking at
cases using the Tea Party term.” The IRS failed to reveal such targeting
until the ABA conference in May 2013:

She read how the case was screened and it was not because of the
organization’s activity. The case seemed to be pulled because of the
applicant’s political affiliation and screening is not supposed to occur
that way. She wanted to alert the managers about the way the cases were
being pulled … [Redacted] said he thought the cases were being pulled
based upon political affiliations. [Redacted] then went to tell
[Redacted] said he would follow up on the issue and would let HOLLY PAZ
know this was possibly occurring. This occurred in the mid to late March
or April 2011 timeframe.

***

The cases were labeled as Tea Party cases. The screening sheets said the
two cases were pulled because of the names and political affiliations.

The FBI reports that in its interview with an unidentified IRS Technical Advisorwho reported directly to Lerner:

[Redacted] attended a meeting in the summer of 2011. She was not
invited, but she was talking to LERNER about something else in the
office when LERNER mentioned that it would be interesting for her to
attend … Only people from Washington, D.C. were in the room, to include
HOLLY PAZ … At the meeting, it was disclosed that one of the ways
Cincinnati was looking for cases was using the “Tea Party” term. They
were calling the body of cases involving political activity “Tea Party”
cases. The concern was that the IRS had put a label on the cases that
would be problematic.

In
his meeting concerning the briefing in mid-June [2011] [Redacted] met
with EOT and EOG [Exempt Organizations Group] staffs and PAZ…. They
showed PAZ the briefing paper and the use of the Tea Party term. PAZ was
the highest-ranking person at the meeting. Somebody said they may not
want to use Tea Party as a labeling term. [Redacted] had recognized they
may not want to use the term Tea Party when they were doing the
briefing paper, but his plan was to raise the issue with PAZ at the
briefing. He does not recall PAZ’s reaction.

According to a ten-page section of
the documents containing FBI interviews with IRS Senior Technical
Advisor Nancy Marks, in the spring of 2012, Miller asked Marks to “look
into how these 501 (c)(4) cases were being handled and find out what the
problems were.” After investigations in Washington and Cincinnati,
Marks reported the following to Miller in May 2012, according to the
FBI:

It was not until much later that MARKS saw information that [Redacted]
was only looking for Tea Party cases…. The BOLO showed that at various
points the criteria called for “Tea Party” name, and then later the
ideology…. She told him [Miller, on May 3, 2012] that Cincinnati was
categorizing cases based on name and ideology, not just activity. When
MARKS told MILLER this, he threw his pencil across the room and said,
“Oh shit.”

The FBI documents also reveal that the FBI investigated why Holly Paz
sat in on numerous Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration
(TIGTA) interviews with lower level IRS employees and if her presence
improperly influenced the employees’ responses to investigators’
questions. The documents repeatedly state, “Other than the auditors, the
only person present during the [Redacted] interview was HOLLY PAZ.”The documents contain two separate lengthy FBI interviews with Lois Lerner, the first in June 2013
and the second in October 2013.
Both interviews came after Lerner invoked her Fifth Amendment
constitutional right against self-incrimination before the House
Oversight Committee in May 2013. By answering questions under oath in
her FBI interviews, Lerner seemed to undermine her earlier Fifth
Amendment-based refusal to testify to Congress, since witnesses
generallycannot invoke the right in one instance and not another.
The House voted to hold Lerner in contempt of Congress for her refusal to testify.And
the FBI 302 documents also contain an interview in which Miller reveals
that former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman very likely misled
Congress in his March 22, 2012, testimony
before the House Ways and Means Committee when he said, “There is
absolutely no targeting.” According to the FBI report on the Miller
interview, “In February or March, MILLER talked to SHULMAN about the
development letters.” The “development letters” were letters sent by the
IRS primarily to targeted conservative groups seeking what the Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) later termed
“inappropriate” information about websites and donors.These
documents show that the Obama FBI and Justice Department had plenty of
evidence suggesting illegal targeting, perjury, and obstruction of
justice. Both the FBI and Justice Department
collaborated with the Lois Lerner and the IRS to try to prosecute
and jail Barack Obama’s political opponents. These documents show the
resulting compromised investigation looked the other way when it came to
Obama’s IRS criminality.Stay tuned, as we will receive more IRS scandal documents next week.

Hillary Clinton Keeps Changing Her StoryLast week I recounted
to you our arguments to U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan
explaining why we should be permitted to depose former Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton about her non-state.gov email system. Hillary Clinton, in a news interview, gave us and the court more reasons for her testimony.As I wrote in a column today for Fox News:

Lawyers for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, seeking to avoid
her deposition testimony, repeatedly informed U.S. District Court Judge
Emmet G. Sullivan that her use of the clintonemail.com system was nothing more than a continuation of her standard “practice.”Judicial
Watch attorneys only seek to question Mrs. Clinton for no more than
three hours as part of a discovery process that already saw the
testimony of several witnesses, including her top State aides, Cheryl
Mills and Huma Abedin.
But her legal team claimed in a court hearing before Judge Sullivan last
week that questioning Secretary Clinton about her motivation for the
use of the system would not yield any additional information other than
that it was simply for her own “convenience.”But it seems that Mrs. Clinton’s email claims change every time she’s asked about the issue.

This week we went back
to Judge Sullivan after Clinton seemed to change her story about the email system housed at her home in Chappaqua, NY. We cited a recent interview with Scott Pelley, of CBS News “60 Minutes”:

PELLEY: All right. Do you think you blew it on the e-mails?CLINTON:
Oh, I’ve said I did. Absolutely. I made a mistake. I should have had
two accounts; one for personal and one for office. And I didn’t, and I
take responsibility for that.PELLEY: Why did you do that, have the private e-mail servers?CLINTON:
You know, Scott, other people did have — other secretaries of state,
other high-ranking members of administrations, plural. And it was
recommended that it would be convenient, and I thought it would be. It’s
turned out to be anything but.

Our legal team explained to Judge Sullivan:

Based on her testimony to the Benghazi Select Committee, the statement
on her campaign website, and her purported answers to the FBI’s
questions, it is nowhere even suggested that Secretary Clinton’s
decision to use the clintonemail.com system for official government business was based on someone else’s recommendation.Because
of the evolving explanation, Secretary Clinton’s deposition is
necessary to effectively and efficiently understand how the decision was
made and the motivation behind it.

Just a few hours ago, Hillary Clinton’s attorneys filed her response.
Incredibly, Hillary Clinton doesn’t dispute the revelation that
someone else recommended that the non-State.gov email would be
convenient to Mrs. Clinton, but only that we shouldn’t be able to
satisfy our “curiosity” about the new information! But as I also wrote
today at Fox News:

If a State Department official, such as the executive secretary or the legal advisor, recommended that Secretary Clinton use a non-state.gov system for State Department business, such evidence could demonstrate the State Department’s role in the decision.
Similarly, if someone who understood the secretary’s FOIA obligations
recommended Secretary Clinton’s use of the system, such evidence could
suggest that the motivation was more than just convenience.

Hillary Clinton’s slippery and changing stories on her email scandal show the value of taking a few hours to ask direct and follow up questions about her email practices.

Obama’s Trip to Climate Conference Cost Taxpayers $4,165,068.40It takes a lot of taxpayer cash and jet exhaust to fly a president to a “climate change” meeting in Paris.
We have obtained records from the U.S. Secret Service and the Department of the Air Force detailing the costs of Obama’s trip to attend the 2015 Paris Climate Change Conference.
Secret Service charges for Obama and his staff to attend the Conference
cost taxpayers $1,324,171.60. Flight expenses cost $2,840,896.80,
bringing the total expenditure for the conference to at least
$4,165,068.40. To date, Obama’s known travel expenses total
$83,795,502.33.Barack
Obama’s appointees didn’t volunteer this information. We filed a
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for these documents on January
6, 2016. Our request wasn’t answered, so we had to sue this past May (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:16-cv-00863)). Only then did we get the documents.Here are the Secret Service expenses for Obama’s ideological Paris junket:

$82,991.60 for air and rail travel.

$706,065 for Parisian hotels.

$531,598 for rental vehicles.

$10,820 in overtime pay.

Cell phone rentals were $2,562.

Cell phone usage cost of $679.

A copier rental for $652.

$624 in “miscellaneous” expenses.

The
Secret Service detail stayed in a number of Parisian hotels. The most
money was spent at the InterContinental Paris Le Grand, a historic hotel
built in 1862 that is called a “luxury” hotel that “defines historic
grandeur,” according to its
website.
Accommodations were also booked at the Hilton Astor, Marriott Ambassador, Marriott Rive Gauche, and Mercure Tour Eiffel.According
to Air Force documents, at least two planes were used for the trip to
Paris, Air Force One and a C-32A (which is generally used by either the
secretary of state or the first lady):

Air Force One travelled a total of 14.4 hours @ $180,118 per hour for a total of $2,593,699.20.

The C-32A travelled 15.6 hours @ $15,846 per hour for a total of $247,197.60.

Other expenses for additional cabinet members’ travel and catering, Secret Service meals, meeting rooms, etc. are not included in these totals.The
controversial Paris Climate Conference, also known as COP21, lasted
from November 30, 2015, to December 12, 2015. Travel to the conferencereportedly
burned 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide, seemingly defeating the purpose of the meeting of world leaders. Critics also
contend President Obama’s executive action implementing the Paris
Climate Agreement circumvents the constitutional requirement that
treaties become law only after ratification by the U.S. Senate.This
junket is another example of wasteful and unnecessary presidential
travel that abuses the taxpayers, the military, and the U.S. Secret
Service. It’s pure folly and we should demand that the next president
(and Congress) put an end to it

Heroic Judicial Watch Client Sues against Federal Agents Violation of Constitutional RightsWe
have gone to court on behalf of Wesley Dutton, a heroic former law
enforcement officer who has provided the government with substantial
information on narcotics, corruption and terrorism along the Mexican
border.Since
2009, Plaintiff Wesley Dutton, a graduate of the New Mexico State
Police Academy and former State of New Mexico livestock investigator,
provided information to the FBI and other law enforcement agencies about
illegal activity in Texas and New Mexico, including information about
illegal narcotics trafficking, fugitives, public corruption, and
terrorism.Our lawsuit, William Wesley Dutton v. Michael Cordero, Eric Benn and Jane Doe No.1 (Case
2:16-cv-00517-CG-GJF), was filed in the U.S. District Court for the
District of New Mexico. It seeks declaratory and injunctive relief,
damages, attorney fees and costs, and other relief.
Defendant Cordero is a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI). Defendant Benn is a Special Agent of the U.S.
Department of Justice’s Office of Inspector General. Defendant Jane Doe
No. 1 is believed to be a Special Agent of the FBI.The
reason for our lawsuit: In February 2014 Special Agents Cordero, Benn,
and Jane Doe No. 1 detained Dutton in the back seat of a locked
government vehicle and interrogated him for approximately eight
hours. The agents never advised Dutton that they had a warrant for his
arrest, that he was under arrest, or that he was suspected of committing
any crime.
Dutton objected to the detention and repeatedly asked if he was under
arrest. His objections and inquiries were ignored. Dutton also invoked
his right to counsel. In response to one such request, Special Agent
Cordero cursed at Dutton and exclaimed, “You’re not talking to
anyone.” Special Agent Benn echoed Cordero’s response to Dutton. Cordero
and Benn’s denial of Dutton’s rights, as well as their interrogation of
Dutton were laden with profanity and abusive language. The agents also
compelled Dutton to make telephone calls to sources and monitored and
recorded the calls.Defendant
Jane Doe No. 1 is believed to be an FBI special agent unlawfully posing
as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and falsely offering “immunity” to Dutton
for his cooperation.At
the end of the interrogation, Jane Doe No. 1 said to Special Agent
Cordero, “You can’t arrest him. We’ve got to let him go.” Special Agent
Benn agreed, saying, “You can’t arrest him. I’m satisfied.” Cordero
cursed. Ultimately, Dutton was allowed to leave the vehicle, but both
Cordero and Benn told Dutton to “keep his mouth shut.” Before the agents
drove off, Cordero cursed at Dutton yet again, saying he hoped he never
saw Dutton again.
On at least two prior interactions, FBI agents came to Dutton’s home and
violated his constitutional rights. In July 2010, FBI agents searched
Dutton’s home without a warrant and seized documents, computers, and
electronic equipment. In August 2012, Cordero and other, unidentified
FBI agents searched Dutton’s home again, also without a warrant, and
seized Dutton’s personal property, papers, notebooks, charts, computers,
and cell phone. Dutton’s items have never been returned to him.We
grant the federal government significant power, and its agents seem all
too willing to abuse it, whether in the halls of the IRS in Washington
or a locked vehicle on a dusty stretch near the Mexican border.
Wes Dutton is a hero. He’s a former law enforcement officer, and he has a
long history of helping law enforcement and intelligence agencies lock
up criminals and defend the country from terrorists. It’s shameful that
federal agents would abuse their authority and treat him in such a
manner. We’re proud to assist Wes in exposing corruption and abuse and
remedying this gross violation of his constitutional rights.

Until next week...Tom Fitton President**Please do not reprint without permission.**